Annotated virtual track to inform autonomous vehicle control

Abstract

Recent location and control information received from “lead” vehicles that traveled over a segment of land, sea, or air is captured to inform, via aggregated data, subsequent “trailing” vehicles that travel over that same segment of land, sea, or air. The aggregated data may provide the trailing vehicles with annotated road information that identifies obstacles. In some embodiments, at least some sensor control data may be provided to the subsequent vehicles to assist those vehicles in identifying the obstacles and/or performing other tasks. Besides, obstacles, the location and control information may enable determining areas traveled by vehicles that are not included in conventional maps, as well as vehicle actions associated with particular locations, such as places where vehicles park or make other maneuvers.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method comprising:
 receiving virtual track data generated by a previous vehicle traversing a segment of land associated with a virtual track, the virtual track data comprising localized driving behavior data; 
 controlling one or more sensors associated with an autonomous vehicle to obtain sensor data representing the segment of land; and 
 controlling the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the localized driving behavior data and the sensor data. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 updating the virtual track data based at least in part on the sensor data. 
 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , wherein updating the virtual track data comprises:
 generating one or more sensor controls for causing second sensor data to be collected by a second vehicle traversing the segment of land; and 
 updating the virtual track data based at least in part on the one or more sensor controls. 
 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein controlling the one or more sensors comprises controlling the one or more sensors based at least in part on sensor control data generated by the previous vehicle and included in the virtual track data. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein controlling the autonomous vehicle is further based at least in part on one or more of:
 a vehicle braking capability, 
 a vehicle acceleration capability, 
 a user travel time preference, 
 a user ride type preference, or 
 a user comfort preference. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the localized driving behavior data comprises data representing one or more of:
 a local driving trend, 
 a local driving custom, 
 spacing between vehicles, or 
 a vehicle maneuver. 
 
     
     
       7. A system comprising:
 one or more processors; and 
 memory to store one or more computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to execute operations comprising:
 receiving virtual track data generated by a previous vehicle traversing a segment of land associated with a virtual track, the virtual track data comprising localized driving behavior data; 
 controlling one or more sensors associated with an autonomous vehicle to obtain sensor data representing the segment of land; and 
 controlling the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the localized driving behavior data and the sensor data. 
 
 
     
     
       8. The system of  claim 7 , wherein controlling the autonomous vehicle comprises:
 determining a road condition associated with a route; and 
 navigating the autonomous vehicle along the route based at least in part on the road condition and the virtual track data. 
 
     
     
       9. The system of  claim 7 , wherein controlling the autonomous vehicle comprises:
 determining one or more vehicle control parameters based at least on part on the virtual track data; 
 modifying the one or more vehicle control parameters based at least in part on vehicle capability data to generate one or more modified vehicle control parameters; and 
 controlling the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the one or more modified vehicle control parameters. 
 
     
     
       10. The system of  claim 9 , wherein the one or more modified vehicle control parameters comprise one or more of:
 vehicle speed; 
 vehicle spacing; 
 vehicle acceleration; or 
 vehicle deceleration. 
 
     
     
       11. The system of  claim 7 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 determining vehicle control data based at least in part on controlling the autonomous vehicle; 
 determining annotated virtual track data based at least in part on the vehicle control data; and 
 updating the virtual track data based at least in part on the annotated virtual track data. 
 
     
     
       12. The system of  claim 11 , wherein updating the virtual track data comprises transmitting the annotated virtual track data to one or more other vehicles. 
     
     
       13. The system of  claim 7 , wherein controlling the one or more sensors comprises controlling the one or more sensors based at least in part on sensor control data included in the virtual track data. 
     
     
       14. The system of  claim 13 , wherein the sensor control data was generated by the previous vehicle. 
     
     
       15. A method comprising:
 determining control data associated with an autonomous vehicle; 
 requesting virtual track data based at least in part on one or more vehicles traversing a segment of land, the virtual track data comprising localized driving behavior data; and 
 in response to receiving the virtual track data:
 navigating the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the virtual track data and the control data; 
 controlling one or more sensors associated with the autonomous vehicle to obtain sensor data representing the segment of land; and 
 controlling the autonomous vehicle based at least in part on the localized driving behavior data and the sensor data. 
 
 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 15 , wherein the control data comprises data representing one or more of:
 a vehicle braking capability, 
 a vehicle acceleration capability, 
 a user travel time preference, 
 a user ride type preference, or 
 a user comfort preference. 
 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 15 , wherein navigating the autonomous vehicle comprises:
 determining a road condition associated with the segment of land; and 
 navigating the autonomous vehicle further based at least in part on the road condition. 
 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 15 , wherein controlling the one or more sensors comprises controlling the one or more sensors based at least in part on sensor control data included in the virtual track data. 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 18 , wherein the sensor control data was generated by a previous vehicle traversing the segment of land. 
     
     
       20. The method of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 in response to receiving the virtual track data,
 updating the virtual track data based at least in part on the sensor data.